Last Beekeeper

In a future reshaped by climate disasters, twelve-year-old Yolanda Cicerón, known as Yoly, is determined to protect the last known beehive on Earth. Her struggle is against more than a ruined environment. There are also people who see the bees only as a way to make money.

Life on her family's farm in the Valley is hard. Failed crops and frightening creatures roaming the countryside have taught Yoly to treat nature as a threat. She longs to move to Silo, the most advanced town for miles, but only the smartest and most useful people are admitted, so she must prove she deserves a place there. Her quick mind and stubborn resolve bring her close to that goal, until she learns her family can no longer pay for her schooling.

Forced to act on her own, Yoly finds that the nearer she gets to a secure future, the more she discovers about the dangers hidden inside Silo's walls, dangers that threaten the entire Valley. As secrets that have been kept for years come to light, she and the people closest to her face serious peril. Their best hope may be bringing back the honeybee, a species long thought to be gone.

The story asks whether that last hive can free the Valley from Silo's control, or whether it will cost Yoly the future she has been working toward.